


Like We Were Schoolkids

by punchinginadream



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Kindergarten Teacher Luke, M/M, Single Dad!Michael, Single Parent Michael, teacher!Luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 14:51:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2696993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punchinginadream/pseuds/punchinginadream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was hard to say what exactly led Michael and Luke to each other. If you asked Luke, he would say it was fate. But if you asked Michael, he'd simply say it was because his son doesn't know how to tie his shoes.<br/>-<br/>[this actually sucks im so sorry]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like We Were Schoolkids

"Daniel!" Michael was not a morning person, he never had been and he never will be. The early mornings coupled with chasing a 5 year old around the house trying to wrestle him into some semi-matching outfit was pure hell for him.

Daniel Clifford, however, _loved_ mornings. He giggles loudly. "No, Daddy!" he protests as he runs between a flustered-looking Michael's legs. "Come catch me!"

"Daniel, this isn't funny!" Michael warns him, doing a 360 and trying to figure out where the toddler has gone. "You're going to be late for school!"

"Come catch me!" Daniel repeats, zooming around the living room. Michael takes a deep, composing breath as he slowly inches towards where his son's voice is coming from.

The quick pitter-patter of tiny feet against the hard wood has stopped, so Michael knows Daniel is catching his breath. He presses himself up against the wall right by the door, smirking when he hears his son panting on the other side of the wall. Michael wasn't the smartest tool in the shed, but he could outsmart a 5 year old.

"Okay, Daniel," Michael says loudly, grinning to himself "I guess I'll just have to call the tickle monster..."

"No!" Daniel shrieks and, just as Michael has predicted, propels himself into the room trying to find his father. Michael takes the opportunity to grab Daniel around the waist as he skittered through the doorway.

"Caught ya!" Michael says triumphantly, picking up his son and throwing him over his shoulder. Ignoring the kicking feet and loud protests of, " _No fair, Daddy!_ " Michael carries

Daniel into his room and sets him on his bed.

"Game over, buddy. Better luck next time. Get dressed, we're already late," Michael ruffles a grumpy-looking Daniel's dirty blonde hair. Although grumbling, the child complies and gets dressed for school.

-

"Daddy, are you gonna walk me into school?" Daniel asks, strapped into his car seat in the backseat.

"I will if you want me to, buddy," Michael tells him, glancing into the rear view mirror. Michael couldn't help but smile at the sight of his child, with his shaggy dirty blonde hair, big, bright green eyes and toothy smile.

"I want you to meet my new teacher!" Daniel announces, bouncing up and down excitedly and clapping his hands.

"Yeah?" Michael raises his eyebrows. "What happened to Mrs. Henderson?"

"She said she'll be back, but she had to go on vacation, so we got a new one!"

"Do you like your new teacher?" Michael asks as he pulled into the parking lot.

"Yes!" Daniel giggles. "He's silly and fun!"

"Well, let's go meet him, then, shall we?" Michael holds out his hand to Daniel to help him out of the car.

Although Michael was well-acquainted with the school, having been here multiple times to pick up or drop off Daniel, the receptionist still gives him a dirty look every time he walked in. He knows he doesn't look like a run-of-the-mill dad, with his red hair and tattoos, but the bitchy old lady regards him as if he's some punk ass kid with a vendetta against the school system, despite him having spoken with her multiple times (and always being on his best behavior, thank you very much). So _why_  did she have to stick up her nose and glare at him like he was the spawn of Satan?

She acknowledges him with a short nod, which looks more like a neck spasm than anything.

"Late again, Mr. Clifford?" she asks unbemusedly.

"Yes ma'am," Michael manages a tight smile as she scrawls him a late note. She hands it to him with a sigh and pursed lips while staring in the opposite direction, as if Michael was dirt on the bottom of her wrinkly old foot. Michael can't wait for the day karma shits all over her.

"Come on come on come onnn!" Daniel groans from Michael's side, pulling him towards the hallway.

"Okay buddy, calm down! I'm coming!" Michael disregards his hate for the old woman and turns his attention back to his son, dragging him down the hallway. Daniel's tiny hand grasps the doorknob, using both hands and all of his might to open the classroom door.

"Wow look at you, Mr. Muscle Man," Michael chuckles as the door finally, slowly creaks open. Daniel smiles proudly, practically skipping into the classroom with his father trailing behind.

"Mr. H, Mr. H, Mr. H!" Daniel waves his hands excitedly, catching the attention of a blonde man across the room. As the man stands up, Michael takes note of how tall he is, especially compared to the kids.

"Daniel!" The teacher smiles brightly, maneuvering his way through tiny chairs and fallen toys to make his way to Michael and his son. "Hey!" He high-fives Daniel and crouches down to look him in the eyes. "How're you doing, Mr. Late Pants?" Daniel giggles like a madman.

"Blame my Daddy!" Daniel points to Michael and Mr. Hemmings's blue eyes flicker up as if just noticing Michael for the first time. He stands up again, forcing Michael to once again take note of just how fucking _tall_ he is.

"Hi, I'm Luke Hemmings, Daniel's teacher." He smiles and juts out his hand. Michael shakes it tentatively, feeling a bit flustered because he just can't ignore how nice his son's kindergarten teacher's skin looks again his black flannel and that's just fucking perverted, isn't it? Having a crush on your child's teacher?

Luke's still staring at him, though, his mouth parted slightly and eyebrows furrowed just a bit as he waits for Michael to _fucking say something_. 

"Hi, I'm uh, I'm Daniel's father." he stutters out and wow, yeah, that's the best fucking thing he can say?

Luke chuckles, apparently entertained by Michael's flustered demeanor. "I know. Daniel talks about you all the time. He says you have fire hair and pictures on your arms." Michael can't help but feel a burning pride in his chest that Daniel talked about him in school, to his attractive teacher no less.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, by the way," Michael adds, just remembering why he was making fool of himself in front of Daniel's new teacher in the first place. "I was--"

Luke's baby blue eyes flicker to the clock above Michael for a moment and his eyes widen. "I'm sorry, can you just excuse me for one moment?" he asks with an apologetic smile. "Stay there. One second," he promises, turning away before Michael can even reply and clapping his hands together to get the room's attention.

"Morning break, guys! You know the drill," Immediately the kids all drop what they're doing like robots, shoving and pushing each other to get into a single file line.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Michael hears his son calling his name and searches the sea of kids for Daniel. He spots him at the front. "Look, I'm the line leader!" Michael grins at him and gives him a thumbs up before he disappears outside, leading the rest of the children. Once they've all dispersed and one of the teachers aids has gone out to look after them, Luke turns back to Michael.

"Sorry," he apologizes. "What were you saying?"

"I'm sorry I was late bringing in Daniel. He refused to put on his clothes today."

"No need to apologize, I know how that goes." Luke laughs. "We've never met before." he adds on after an uncomfortable silence.

"Well, his mother usually brings Daniel to school, so..." Michael trails off with a shrug.

"Are you separated?" Luke asks abruptly, searching for something in his drawer. Michael's caught off guard by the question and Luke looks up when there's no response.

"Sorry," A pink blush takes over his cheeks as he realizes what he asked. "That's really personal. It's just..." Luke's eyes light up and he murmurs a quiet "Aha!" under his breath as he pulls out a piece of paper. Triumphantly, he hands it to Michael.

"What is this?" Michael asks, examining the picture.

"That would be the drawing Daniel did of your family," Luke says, pointing to the different people colored in crayon. "It was really surprising, actually. Usually kids with split parents draw pictures of both parents being unhappy and the child being stuck in the middle. Daniel's, though, just shows you--" He points to a stick figure with crazy hair and a guitar. "--on one side of the picture, with Daniel's mom--" Michael's ex-wife is shown on the other side of the paper, with purse and a dog on a leash. "--on the other side, with Daniel in the middle. I really admire you being able to keep him happy like that." Luke explains. Michael's eyes may or may not have watered a bit, looking at the picture. The divorce wasn't a bad one, just 'irreconcilable differences'. No hard feelings whatsoever. It's quiet for a moment, this silence not as awkward as Michael's fingertips trace over the drawing.

"Mr-Mr. He-He-" Both boys turn their attention towards the door to the playground, where a little girl with a pink dress and a trembling bottom lip that gives way to a sob stands.

"Oh, no, Charlotte." Luke is already halfway out of his chair when he looks back at Michael and says, "Give me a minute." Then he's kneeling by Charlotte and looking at her worriedly. "What happened?" Luke asks softly, bouncing on the heel of his foot that was on the floor.

"I-I fell a-and," She hiccups and holds up her tiny elbow, decorated with tiny scratches, dirt and a little bit of blood.

"Oh no," Luke frowns, taking her elbow carefully and inspecting it. "Luckily, the doctor is in! No need to fear, sweetie." Luke is speaking in an overly eager voice and petting her hair, trying to calm her down. "We can get it cleaned up in no time and you can go back to playing, alright?" HE waits until Charlotte nods before standing up and holding out his hand for her to take. Once she has, he leads her over to a table near his desk and props her up on it. Quickly, he rifles through a few drawers and retrieves disinfectant and a box of bandages. "Okay," Luke says, standing back by the little girl and bending down slightly until he was eye level with her. "Here's how it's gonna go, kiddo. We're gonna sing a song I know for a fact you love, and you're going to close your eyes and focus on signing it as awesomely as you can. Don't focus on your boo-boo, if you do you break the rules. Only on the song, alright? And then, if you do it well enough, once the song is over your boo-boo will be gone. Can you do that for me?"

Bottom lip still trembling, Charlotte nods.

Luke smiles. "Awesome. This is one of my favorite songs in the whole entire universe, so if you don't help me sing it I'm gonna be really sad." Luke pouts for dramatic effect and Charlotte giggles. "Close your eyes on the count of three. 1...2...3...Charlotte?" Luke raps his knuckles against the desk three times. "Do you wanna build a snowman?" Luke's voice is surprisingly calm and soothing as he starts singing. "Come on let's go and play. I never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away..." Charlotte joins in after a moment, squeezing her eyes tightly and trying to follow her teacher's instructions. Continuing with the song, Luke sprays some disinfectant onto a cloth and meets Michael's eyes with an apologetic smile. When he dabs at Charlotte's cuts, the girl gasps and stops singing, but Luke only sings louder and more eagerly, bringing Charlotte back into it. He gets the band-aid on but finishes the song with Charlotte, even adding a vocal interpretation of the instrumental, which makes her giggle like wild. "Okay!" Luke says as the song ends and Charlotte opens her eyes. "Boo-boo's gone and look who helped fix it." He points to her band-aid where Olaf from Frozen decorates the bandage. Charlotte gasps excitedly and Luke chuckles, helping her off the table.

"Thank you!" She hugs his leg quickly in thanks and then disappears outside again.

"Sorry," Luke says for the second time, turning back to Michael.

"'S alright," Michael mumbles, feeling the little 'oh-he's-attractive' crush he had a minute ago turn into a full-out 'I-want-to-watch-reruns-with-you-in-our-boxers' kind of attraction.

"Anyways, thank you for bringing Daniel in." Luke scratches the back of his neck and, okay, it makes Michael feel a bit better he's not the only super-flustered one in the room.

"Yep," Michael nods, albeit awkwardly.

"Um, hold on," Luke puts a hand out as if to stop Michael from leaving, although Michael hadn't moved a muscle. Michael looks at him expectantly and Luke chews on the corner of his lip. The delighted screams of children can be heard from outside and Michael never expected to find himself in a kindergarten classroom wanting to make-out with the teacher. "I have something of Daniel's I should give you. He always forget his stuff here." Luke chuckles nervously and Michael's shoulders sag. He didn't know what he was expecting. Luke wanders to the back of the classroom, shuffling through papers for a minute before he comes back to Michael with a few pieces of paper held together with a paper clip. Michael more or less crumples them in his hand, gripping too tight, and smiles tightly at Luke, wishing he had the nerve to say something else other than,

"I'll be back to pick up Daniel in a few hours, then."

"Alright. Have a nice day, Mr. Clifford."

"You too."

Michael curses himself as he leaves, wishing he could've just asked Luke out, or said _something_. He's so bummed he doesn't even return the evil glare of the receptionist as he gets back in his car and leans his head against the steering wheel. That's when he spots the post-it note on the top of the papers sitting in his lap. In scrawled and shaky handwriting (an indication of just how nervous he really was), Luke wrote,

_I'm not so good with people my age (hence why I became a kindergarten teacher) but you're really cute and from what your son tells me you're one hell of a person. Would you like to go for coffee later? xx Luke_


End file.
